This invention relates to recording/reproducing apparatus and, more particularly, to a changer apparatus which operates with a record/playback deck to bring fresh recording media (for recording messages or for transcribing or playing back information) to that deck and to remove used media (i.e., those media on which messages have been recorded or played back) from that deck.
In the field of dictation, central systems having, for example, a centrally disposed recorder selectively coupled to one of several dictating stations, as by a dedicated communication link (e.g. "hard-wired") or by telephone, have become popular. In one type of central dictation system, messages, such as letters, reports, memoranda and the like, are recorded on discrete recording media such as magnetic tape cassettes. Depending upon the preset parameters established by the users of the dictation system, a cassette having one or more messages recorded thereon is replaced automatically with a fresh cassette to permit further messages to be recorded. The messages that have been recorded on the used cassette then are transcribed by, for example, a conventional desk-top transcribing machine. A similar central system has been used for transcribing messages from cassettes, wherein a cassette is replaced when transcription of the messages recorded thereon has been completed.
By centrally disposing the recorder, access thereto is presented to several dictators who are furnished with respective dictating stations or with so-called telephone dictation modules from which messages may be transmitted, and which operate to control the usual dictating functions, such as record, playback, rewind, fast forward and the like. After one dictator has terminated his usage of the centrally disposed recorder, the recorder is made available to be accessed by another. Typically, the recording medium, or cassette, on which the dictator has dictated his messages may be replaced, or ejected, after a predetermined length of tape has been consumed, or after a predetermined number of messages have been recorded, or after a predetermined number of different dictators have recorded messages thereon or after a predetermined amount of time has elapsed since the first message was recorded. Examples of central dictation systems using cassette changers are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,071,857; 4,092,679; 4,092,685; and 4,099,209.
In the cassette changer central dictation systems of the type described in the aforementioned patents, a cassette is transported via a conveyor-type mechanism from an input supply, or stack, to a recording deck. The deck is mounted in a movable support which positions that deck in operable relation with the cassette that has been transported thereto. Then, after the predetermined length of tape has been consumed, or after the preset number of messages have been recorded, or after the preset number of dictators have used the cassette, or after a predetermined duration of inactivity has elapsed, the deck is displaced and the conveyor mechanism continues in its transportation of the used cassette to an output stack. Concurrently with this ejection of the cassette from the recording deck, a fresh cassette is transported by the conveyor mechanism from the input stack to that deck. As also described in the aforementioned patents, if a cassette has been designated a "priority" cassette, that is, if the message or messages recorded on that cassette are to be transcribed promptly and on a "priority" basis, the used cassette is discharged to a special priority discharge chute. There, the "priority" cassette may be given to a transcriptionist immediately. The transcription of such "priority" cassettes need not be deferred until all other used cassettes which precede that "priority" cassette have been transcribed.
The cassette changer apparatus of the aforedescribed type has been provided with one motor to drive the cassette-conveyor mechanism, another motor to drive the recording deck into operable relation with the cassette, and yet another motor to lift the used cassette into the output stack. The operation of all three motors is coordinated by electronic logic circuitry which, in one embodiment has been implemented in the form of discrete components and in another embodiment has been implemented in the form of a specially programmed microprocessor.
Other cassette changer devices have been known. For example, a shuttle carriage has been proposed for transporting, or "shuttling," a cassette from a horizontal input stack to a recording deck and then, after one or more messages have been recorded, from that deck to a horizontal output stack. Another example, similar to a photographic slide projector, displaces a cassette from an input magazine, lowers that cassette onto a recording deck, returns the used cassette from the deck to the magazine, and then advances the magazine to access the next cassette therein. A further example is provided with a vertical input stack of cassettes from which the bottommost cassette is lowered onto a recording deck and then, after one or more messages have been recorded, that cassette is lifted from the deck and discharged.
One problem attending many of the aforementioned cassette changers resides in the coordination of removing a used cassette from the recording deck and replacing it with a fresh cassette from an input supply. Typically, separate drive motors are used to transport a fresh cassette to the recording deck, load that cassette onto the deck, and eject a used cassette from that deck to an output port. It is appreciated that such coordination may be achieved by electronic control circuitry or microprocessors, as mentioned above, or by a relatively complex mechanical interlocking arrangement. The use of plural drive motors, control electronics, and mechanical interlocking arrangements is relatively expensive and moreover, may be difficult to service in the event that maintenance or repairs become necessary.
The present invention proceeds by using a relatively simple drive arrangement which inherently provides proper coordination among the various cassette-changing operations--transporting a fresh cassette to the recording deck, disposing that cassette in operable relation with the deck and ejecting a used cassette from the deck to a suitable output port. Moreover, the operating principles of the present invention permit it to be readily adapted for use as a cassette changer with standard size cassettes, with minicassettes, with microcassettes or with the new extremely small cassette described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,443,827.